CBI tells MPs hundreds of thousands of jobs at risk if government does not provide proper coronavirus support – politics live

Good morning. Yesterday we had one of the most dramatic and consequential announcements from a British prime minister since the second world war, but today ministers are due to follow it up with at least two more major interventions.

First, Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, is due to give details of what the government will do to help the businesses and individuals facing bankruptcy and unemployment because of Boris Johnson’s guidance that will effectively shut down parts of the economy.

And, second, Matt Hancock, the health secretary, is due to give details of the emergency powers legislation being introduced to give the government the ability to enforce these new rules if necessary.

As usual, Politico Europe’s Jack Blanchard has a good preview. Here is an extract from his London Playbook briefing.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak will join Boris Johnson at his daily Downing Street press conference later this afternoon after a furious backlash from businesses against the government’s approach. Treasury officials — like the rest of government — were completely blindsided by yesterday’s dramatic clampdown, and were last night hastily considering a range of options that might keep small businesses afloat. One well-placed source told Playbook to expect a “big economic package,” but admitted full details were unlikely to be ready by this afternoon. “We will continue to engage with business and are working rapidly to provide more support,” a Treasury spokesman said.

Caught on the hop: The truth is that Downing Street itself was not really ready for this rapid escalation, with events moving at a breakneck speed throughout the past few days. As such the PM could offer only hopelessly vague assurances at yesterday’s press conference that businesses would be supported, even as he urged Brits to stay away from pubs, restaurants, theatres and other entertainment venues. His words have left tens of thousands of small business owners fearing ruin today, with the Daily Mail describing it as “doomsday” for the high street.

And here are some of the latest developments this morning.

• Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, has said that London’s transport network could be massively scaled back in the coming weeks. In an interview this morning he said:

What we may do over the course of the next few days is go to a Saturday or Sunday service during the week and then maybe even scale that down even more over the course of the next few days and weeks.

• Jonathan Van-Tam, the deputy chief medical officer for England, has rejected claims that the government’s suppression strategy has been introduced too late. He told the Today programme:

We are following the science very carefully and consider the measures we announced yesterday have been announced at the right time – not too early and certainly not too late.

We don’t rule out taking further measures if these are necessary but much of this depends on how the next two weeks play out.

• Prof Neil Ferguson, from the MRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis at Imperial College, who worked on the study that led to the government announcing its far-reaching suppression strategy yesterday, also denied that the government was acting too late. He told the Today programme:

I think we are still behind the epidemic seen in other European countries, so there’s always a balancing act involved in these sort of measures in order to balance the impact of those measures, the costs on the economy against the impact on the epidemic.

I overall think we have got the timing about right.

I think we’re about three weeks or so behind Italy, two weeks behind France and Spain, so we are making these decisions in a more timely manner than other European countries but certainly there wasn’t any time to lose.

Ferguson also said that, looking at what was happening in Italy, his team had concluded that the UK could face 250,000 deaths if the government did not escalate its social distancing strategies. He explained:

Initially when we came up with these sort of estimates they were viewed as what’s called a reasonable worst case, but as information has been gathered in recent weeks from, particularly Italy, but other countries, it’s become increasingly clear it’s not the reasonable worst case, it’s the most likely scenario [assuming no change in policy].

• Labour has said the economic rescue measures being announced today must be “on a scale sufficient to meet this crisis”. This is from John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor.

Here is the agenda for the day.

10.30am: Boris Johnson chairs cabinet.

9.30am: Robert Chote, chair of the Office for Budget Responsibility, and colleagues give evidence to the Commons Treasury committee.

10am: Business groups give evidence to the Commons business committee about the impact of coronavirus.

11.30am: Dominic Raab, the foreign secretary, takes questions in the Commons.

2.30pm: Sir Patrick Vallance, the government’s chief scientific adviser, gives evidence to the Commons health committee. At 3.15pm Sir Simon Stevens, the chief executive of NHS England, and colleagues will give evidence.

Afternoon: Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, are due to appear at the government’s daily coronavirus press conference.

At some point today Matt Hancock, the health secretary, is also due to give details of the government’s coronavirus emergency legislation.

I expect to be focusing entirely on the UK political aspects of the coronavirus crisis. But this is a global story that goes well beyond Westminster politics, and even politics generally. For the full picture, do read our general coronavirus live blog, which is here.

You can read all the latest Guardian politics articles here and here is the Politico Europe roundup of this morning’s political news.

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